I decided to use a company that I am already familiar with and considering applying to after graduation for this thought process, and one of the locations that I am familiar with and interested in is Singapore. The Hofstede-Insights website was a great resource of information for my research on the country; it scores countries from 1-100 based on each of Hostedes’s dimensions. In this country, the power distance is relatively large, as they scored a 74. If the position I was offered in this country was higher up the country, I could set the precedent for this to change within my field. Much of the work culture in the country is centered around bosses and rules. Singapore is a collectivist society, scoring low with a 20. Individuals in this culture strongly value family and groups, and in many cases, politeness takes rules over honesty, which isn’t something I find appealing in a company environment. When it comes to masculinity-feminity, Singapore is pretty neutral (48) with a slight lean towards femininity. For Uncertainty avoidance, they received an extremely low score of 8. I found it interesting how low this score was and found it potentially alarming for a workplace. Finally, with long-term orientation they scored 72, reflecting their people’s desire to support long-term ventures. This is promising for doing business and working in a company. Before researching, I found this to be a very promising prospect for an international opportunity. Now, using the Hofstede cultural dimensions I see that it doesn’t necessarily fit my ideal for my future career. Compared to the US, they score more favorably to me in masculinity and a long-term orientation, and worse on power distance, individualism, and uncertainty avoidance. I would consider another country and research them as well before accepting a job offer here.
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